A rath is an early medieval earthwork enclosure, typically of raised earth banks, built to define a farmstead or homestead and offer a degree of protection. This one, however, left no visible surface trace by the time it was surveyed in modern times.

What makes the site quietly curious is the suggestion that the enclosure was not simply forgotten but actively absorbed into the designed landscape of the demesne. The ring of trees planted along what would have been the enclosing bank points to a deliberate reuse, the circular form recognised and retained as an ornamental feature within the estate grounds. This was not unusual practice among eighteenth and nineteenth century landowners, who occasionally incorporated prehistoric or early medieval earthworks into their parkland layouts, sometimes out of antiquarian interest and sometimes simply because a tree-ringed mound made a pleasing eye-catcher. In the Dunsandle case, the result is that the rath's geometry survives in the arrangement of planting even as the earthwork itself has gone.

The site sits on a gentle rise in grassland on what was once the Dunsandle estate, and with no earthwork remaining above ground, there is little to see in the conventional sense. The circle of trees, if still standing, would be the only physical reminder that something older underlies the landscape here.